it feels like i'm getting 2 midterms per week this quarter, or at the very least, 1 midterm + a couple papers to hand in... but that's 16 credits for you... better 2/week, than 4 for 1 week then nothing...

songwriting's hard... i need a lot of contemplation time to think... which i don't get... boourns...

ok, here was the message i got on sunday, it's a bit difficult, so pay attention, even now i'm still not too sure what it meant(perhaps emailing the pastor would be a good idea):

Daniel 9:24-27

"Seventy 'sevens' are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy.
"Know and understand this: From the issuing of the decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until the Anointed One, the ruler, comes, there will be seven 'sevens,' and sixty-two 'sevens.' It will be rebuilt with streets and a trench, but in times of trouble.
After the sixty-two 'sevens,' the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed.
He will confirm a covenant with many for one 'seven.' In the middle of the 'seven' he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him."

ok, so it's pretty confusing, and now i regret not bringing a pen so i could take notes, but here's what i could remember and decipher:

the 7 7s and 62 7s(or 434-49 years of duration, starting @49 years, ending @434 years afterward) refers to the time that passes before Israel rebuilds their walls... think of Nehemiah(the pastor started using puns, going "yeah, see we see that we're talking about the shortest person in the bible, knee-high-miah *ok, it wasn't that funny, but i chuckled a bit*) who was sent back to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls... this will happen on the 49th year, and continue until the 434th year, when Jesus comes... i am guessing the 62 7s hints more @Jesus' death than his arrival, since the bible says he will be cut off after the 62 7s
the 70 7s(or 490 years) refers to the time that people need to repent before justice comes(this prob doesn't hint @the end of the world, since it comes 490-434, or 56 yrs after Jesus' arrival), but it prob hints at when the Romans tear everything down

from there, we don't get more specificity about the end of the world, except that "the end will come like a flood: war will continue until the end(perhaps this hints back to conflict until the US pulls away from Israel, then the whole thing i wrote down before happens? not too sure)"

the last verse i don't get, here's where it gets shady; does this refer to Jesus? the middle of one seven could be 3(3.5 rounded down is 3), which would make sense since Jesus put an end to sacrifice and offering in 3 days... but the decree about him setting up abomination until the end decreed for him is poured out upon him...
it could refer to Nero, cause it could be a ruler who comes afterward in times of trouble; putting an end to sacrifice and offering in 3 or 4 days would make sense(ala persecution), and that he'd be put to death... but again, not too sure, and i am currently too lazy to look up historical evidence to make sense of it...
it could refer to the Greek ruler who tried to make Israel as Greek as possible(this was the worst antiSematic person to the Jews before Hitler), but that occured before the 70 7s i think...
finally, it could refer to the future antichrist...